Police officer's son charged in city's worst mass murder

Matthew De Grood, shown in the back of an ambulance in the screen grab from Global Calgary, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in Tuesday’s stabbing spree at a Brentwood house party.

Saima Jamal, a U of C staff member, breaks down in tears during a community gathering at MacEwan Hall for the victims of the stabbings that took place in Brentwood earlier Tuesday.Jenn Pierce
/ Calgary Herald

Matthew de Grood, alleged to have been the perpetrator in the stabbing murders in Brentwood Tuesday April 15, 2014, competes in the 10 kilometre portion of the 2013 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon May 26, 2013.File
/ Handout

Matthew de Grood, alleged to have been the perpetrator in the stabbing murders in Brentwood Tuesday April 15, 2014, competes in the 10 kilometre portion of the 2013 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon May 26, 2013.
/ Calgary Herald

Aerial view of the house on Butler Crescent N.W. where five people were fatally stabbed at a party on April 15, 2014. Matthew de Groot (inset) is a suspect in the killings.Stuart Gradon
/ Calgary Herald

Suspect in Brentwood stabbing, Matthew de Groodhandout
/ handout

Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson speaks to members of the media about the murder of five people at a house party on Butler Crescent NW in Calgary on April 15, 2014.Leah Hennel
/ Calgary Herald

Medical examiner staff remove one of the bodies from a home as Calgary Police Service members investigated after five people were stabbed to death at a home on Butler Cres N.W.Colleen De Neve
/ Calgary Herald

Calgary Police Service members were on the scene investigating after five people were stabbed to death at a home on Butler Crescent N.W. on April 15, 2014.Colleen De Neve
/ Calgary Herald

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Like many local students, Matthew de Grood got off work Monday night and headed out to celebrate the end of the semester at the University of Calgary.

But shortly after being welcomed into a Brentwood house party, de Grood would be strapped to a stretcher and under arrest, accused of fatally stabbing five others at the gathering — the worst mass killing in Calgary’s history.

"Everybody is so shocked right now. I saw his picture. At first I thought, ‘Oh, my God, maybe he’s the one who got hurt. Then I read underneath. My heart just dropped," said a former high school classmate of de Grood’s, who also knew him at U of C.

The victims — Lawrence Hong, Josh Hunter, Kaitlin Perras, Zackariah Rathwell and Jordan Segura — were, by all accounts, celebrating like everyone else when they became the subjects of an unprovoked attack just after 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Story continues below this liveblog with the latest from the team of Calgary Herald reporters and photographers covering the slayings and their impact.

Police Chief Rick Hanson said the victims were "targeted one by one" during a house party at 11 Butler Cres. N.W.

"These were all good kids. There’s no question about that. They did nothing wrong, and nothing that they did contributed to what happened to them," Hanson said.

Police have a suspect — the son of a well-regarded senior officer from their ranks — and the names of the victims quickly spread among grief-stricken family members, friends and classmates as Tuesday wore on.

But the question police have yet to answer is shared by the wider community as the investigation heads into its second day: why?

"It is natural to speculate when these types of events occur. We want to know what happened, who was involved and why the outcome was so horrific," Mayor Naheed Nenshi said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

While the police have yet to specify a precise motive, they charged de Grood with five counts of first-degree murder — a charge that indicates evidence of planning and deliberation.

Two of the victims, Josh Hunter and Zackariah Rathwell, were members of a popular local band, Zackariah and the Prophets.

Hunter, 23, was also an accounting major at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. Rathwell, 21, was a first-year student at the Alberta College of Art and Design.

"They were amazing, they were really creative and they inspired me," said Eric Grant, a friend of the bandmates who attended a candlelight vigil for all five victims at U of C on Tuesday night.

"Today has been the hardest day of my life."

Segura, 22, was a religious studies student at the University of Calgary. Perras was 23; Hong was 27.

Investigators were still trying to sort out if any of the victims lived at the rented house that hosted the party, but police said it was mainly a gathering of University of Calgary students celebrating Bermuda Shorts Day, a long-running tradition to mark the last day of classes.

"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families who have lost their loved ones in this senseless tragedy. The university community has lost a part of its family, and this is a very difficult time for all of us," U of C president Elizabeth Cannon said.

Authorities confirmed de Grood also attended U of C. Friends posted congratulatory messages on de Grood’s Facebook page last December, when he announced he had been accepted into the faculty of law and would begin attending classes this fall.

A status update posted on de Grood’s Facebook profile Monday night, hours before the stabbings, read: "Dread and the fugitive mind — the world needs a hero."

The first phrase is the title of a song by the heavy metal band Megadeth; the second phrase is the name of the 2001 album it appeared on.

De Grood had worked a shift at the Crowfoot Safeway store prior to arriving at the party, and police have no evidence he was impaired by drugs or alcohol, but Hanson added that finding was preliminary.

Hanson said de Grood was an invited guest at the party and none of the witnesses questioned by police saw any kind of confrontation that hints at a motive behind the killing spree.

"Was there anything that precipitated the event? Was there something that anyone had done that could have been taken as an insult or an affront to this individual?

"And to the best of our knowledge right now, there’s nothing to indicate anything like that happened earlier in the day that led to this," Hanson said.

Multiple sources said the investigation is now focusing on de Grood’s mental state — though Hanson wouldn’t specifically comment on that avenue of investigation.

"At this point in time, it’s very preliminary and can’t say for sure," he said.

As investigators try to piece together the events that led up to the killings, detectives have also sought answers from de Grood’s parents.

His father, Insp. Doug de Grood, is 33-year veteran who has held several senior posts during his time with the police department.

"He’s heartbroken, as his wife is. He said, can you please pass on to the families our total and complete sorrow and condolences as to what happened," Hanson said.

"They’ve been incredibly co-operative with this investigation. They have told the investigators everything."

There were about 30 people at the house at the party’s height, but neighbours said there were no signs things were ever out of hand.

"They were just were kind of hanging out, had a fire pit going, having a few beers. They weren’t loud at all, whatsoever," said neighbourDoug Jones.

The numbers had dwindled to about 20 when the suspect struck without any outward warning, police said.

"The suspect arrived at the party, obtained a large knife and targeted the victims one by one, stabbing them several times," Hanson said.

Someone at the party called 911 at about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday. When police arrived, they found three men dead inside the house. Officers found a fourth man, suffering from critical stab wounds, on the front lawn. Perras, who was also critically injured, was found inside the house. Paramedics took both victims to hospital, where they died.

"There was a witness there, right away, that gave very good information to the responding officers that pointed them in a direction where the suspect was last seen," Hanson said.

Officers arrested de Grood a short distance away, near the intersection of Brentwood Boulevard N.W. and Charleswood Drive.

"There was a struggle and he had to be subdued," Hanson said.

De Grood was injured by a police K9 dog during the arrest. He was taken to Rockyview Hospital for treatment, where he remained Tuesday night.

Back at the house, crime scene investigators searched the area for evidence. "The scene was horrific. It’s extremely difficult, regardless of who the perpetrator is, to go into a scene like that with young people who have been killed," Hanson said.

Police recovered a weapon from the street, but it’s not immediately known if it was used in the killings. Hanson said de Grood was armed with "an instrument" from his job at the grocery store, but the knife used in the killings was allegedly taken from inside the house.

The killing is the worst mass homicide in Calgary’s recorded history.

In 2008, a Calgary architect named Joshua Lall killed his wife, their two daughters and a tenant renting a basement suite in their Dalhousie home before killing himself. The couple’s infant daughter survived the attack.

A precise motive for the crime was never known, but Lall, 35, was struggling with mental illness prior to killing his wife Alison, 34, daughters Kristen, 5, and Rochelle, 3, and Amber Bowerman, a 30-year-old journalist who rented the basement suite.

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